Star Control: Origins is set in the year 2086. The good news: the signals from Earth have been received by an advanced alien race. The bad news: they are looking for the source of the signals in order to annihilate them. As Captain of the most advanced starship the human race has ever constructed, the player's mission is to prevent the impending destruction of the Earth through any means necessary.

To that end, Star Control: Origins allows players to land on planets that are now represented as spherical entities with the gameplay updated to allow the lander to jump obstacles, rotate their lander’s cannon and deal with hostile environments and creatures.

Like the classic series, Star Control focuses on the player’s interaction with alien races.  Star Control: Origins introduces a new cast of aliens for the player to learn and deal with. Using the game’s dynamic rendering system, the aliens and their speech are rendered in real-time.

For the music, Stardock has been working to reunite the musicians worked on the previous games. For example, Riku Nuottajarvi, composer of much of the music for the original series, has returned for the new Star Control series.  Meanwhile, for the writing, Stardock has tapped Cracked.com columnist, Chris Bucholz to lead the story and writing effort.

Earth Rising - Part 4: Earth Rises introduces players to exciting new adventures, including bar fights at Kapteyn's Bar, the reluctant return of a God, a search for a missing Commander, and more.

Star Control: Origins - Earth Rising is set in the late 21st century. The player is the Captain of Earth's first interstellar starship with the mission to explore the galaxy, find allies to help protect Earth from hostile aliens, and find the resources necessary to help Earth expand to the stars.

Earth Rises is the final part in a four-part expansion pack called Earth Rising. The expansion adds a host of new aliens, ships, adventures and destinations to the already rich universe introduced in Star Control: Origins. Because Star Control is a non-linear action/RPG game, the new content does not require the player to have already completed the main story arc from the base game.

Highlights of Earth Rises include:

• New Missions & Quests - Search for the missing Commander Magara, keep an eye on the humans developing a deadly Terran Battlecruiser, and stop the Measured from harvesting a sun and killing an entire civilization.
• New Location - Visit Kapteyn's Bar to hear the latest gossip, triumph in a bar fight, and pick up bounty hunting quests.
• New Battles - Lead your fleet into epic battles against massive space stations.
• New Weapons - Take on enemies with an arsenal of new weapons like the Black Hole Array or the Charged Warhead.

Star Control: Origins - Earth Rising is now available for purchase for $19.99 on Steam. Currently, the first 3 parts are available to play until part 4 arrives. Star Control: Origins is available on Steam, GOG, or Stardock for $29.99.